The dreaded coronavirus is one of the worst things to happen in the United States in my lifetime. Regrettably, I think we are only at the starting point of the misery curve.
Before it’s over, it will cost our country billions, many people endless hardship and some less fortunate, their lives! How does one find anything positive to think about in a catastrophe like this? Several good things do come to my mind.
One is, this infectious virus will test the capabilities and force improvements on our local and national health care systems and emergency response programs. This will soon resemble a military response on a national level!
It will be like fighting a war, except the enemy is invisible, silent and doesn’t fight like traditional enemies do. Our emergency health care and response systems will be the beneficiary, after being put to the test, like we never thought was possible! This is a good thing! We will learn our weaknesses and shortcomings and emerge with a new and improved version for the future.
The second thing is, this is a wakeup call to all of us on how we have allowed China to be our master and keeper of our own health, security and well-being.
There is virtually nothing made in the good old USA anymore and this has to change immediately! When roughly 90% of the ingredients used in antibiotics come from China, a communist country that has silently been waging war on us and other equally careless countries, we have a big problem! When we export most of our manufacturing capabilities to countries like China, all we do is enrich them and make us a dependent.
Sure, we can get things made cheaper overseas; but what is the real hidden cost that only becomes apparent in a crisis like the one we are currently experiencing? Imagine if China decided not to send us the much-needed ingredients for the antibiotics we need to make life-saving drugs! What would we do? Oh, I know, we could threaten to stop sending them our scrap metal. That’ll make them think twice!
Things are definitely cheaper from China. Cheaper to make and in most cases cheaper in quality.
So much inferior are Chinese-made goods that I try to avoid buying them anytime I can. I gave up on shoes from the nation’s largest retailer a few years ago because they regularly came apart in about one month. Take them back and get another pair and the same scenario repeats itself. It’s as if there was a time clock in them and at the interval of one month they just come apart.
I don’t care what the price is. They’re no bargain!
Try going into any home improvement or hardware store and find anything that’s made in the U.S., especially in the plumbing department. Don’t hold your breath! Chinese brass water valves are absolute junk. I won’t use them on anything!
We’ve done a great job at helping the late Chairman Mao achieve his dream of building China into an industrial powerhouse. Now it’s time to wise up and make the United States the industrial powerhouse IT once was! Remember, we saved the world from national socialism, communism, fascism, imperialism, and a few other isms I can’t think of at the moment. We did it mainly with our industrial might. We made more planes, ships, tanks, ammunition and implements necessary to wage war faster than our adversaries could replace the ones we were destroying.
In the case of World War II, we pulled ourselves out of a depression and turned the United States into the industrial powerhouse that became the envy of the rest of the world. Unfortunately, nothing lasts forever!
It’s just too easy to become fat, happy, lazy and lose focus.
It’s time to take back our country. This is not a political campaign, but an America first campaign that benefits all Americans. I encourage everyone to immediately boycott all Chinese products and seek out American-made goods! Of course, this does not include Chinese restaurants.
Store managers could post small American flags or put flag stickers next to the item description so the U.S.-made products (all 10 of them) will stand out and be visible.
If you can’t find what you’re looking for that’s made here, put a small Post-It note on the Chinese products that say “No China!” This is the equivalent of voting with your wallet. Eventually, store owners will notice the Chinese products aren’t selling, just collecting Post-It notes! They will get the message real fast.
We cured polio, smallpox and other horrible diseases. We prevented Europe from becoming a German-speaking continent and rebuilt it after World War II.
Let’s not forget who we are and what we are cable of doing.
Buy American and make the USA the manufacturing giant it once was. Say no to China!
Melvin J. Chikato
Acton
